Opportunities to enhance collective activity to meet the demands of a task: A case of job rotation among port workers.

OBJECTIVE This article aims to demonstrate the ways in which port workers collectively respond to task demands, work organization and functional turnover instituted in a Portuguese port. METHODS Based on both the theoretical debate on the cooperative aspects during the performance of the activity and the contextual research matrix of the activity ergonomics, the investigation conducted focused on the room for maneuvering that is assigned to the work teams and, more specifically, how collective action materializes more visibly in the elaboration of new rules of action with a view to the arbitration between the preservation of health, the guarantee of safety and the response to the required performance levels. RESULTS The results of the analysis of port activity make evident the development of a high degree of operational synchronization between the professional skills articulated in the team, specialized communication in certain work subprocesses, and strategies for collective surveillance of risks.